How to Keep Live Christmas Wreaths and Live Garlands Fresh
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Tips and tricks to keep your live Christmas greenery garlands and wreaths looking fresh and fragrant to enjoy them throughout the holiday season, without the mess.
Bring greenery garland and fresh Christmas wreaths into your home for the holidays without fear of them drying out prematurely.
*This post was originally published on November 10, 2018 and updated December 15, 2020.
I have long preferred decorating with fresh Christmas greenery for the holidays. Bringing the outdoors in brings your home to life, adds a lovely and festive fragrance and eliminates the need to store decor.
You can take a tour of our holiday home filled with fresh flowers and holiday greens right here. It’s a can’t miss photo tour, with video too!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Fresh Christmas Greenery Garlands
- Fragrance
- Often less expensive than Faux
- A more natural drape
- Feels luxurious and special
Long-Lasting Christmas Greenery for Your Home
There’s just something so special about bringing that fragrant foliage into our home. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I would trade out the mess.
Over the years, I’ve discovered a few ways to prolong the life of our fresh greenery garland, wreaths, and stems for as long as possible.
For me, it’s worth a little extra effort to incorporate live Christmas wreaths, live greenery garlands and stems of greens into our decor. With these easy steps, you can extend the life of your greens and enjoy them all season.
Some even look prettier as they dry! Stair garland has always been my favorite to integrate. It’s so dramatic and dresses up stairs so beautifully. We usually enjoy our greenery garland on our stairs for 3-4 weeks!
How Long will Christmas Greenery Garland Last?
Indoors, live Christmas wreaths and fresh greenery garlands can last two to three weeks when properly cared for. Outdoors, in cooler climates they can last much longer.
The processes for keeping greenery garlands, fresh Christmas wreaths and loose greenery are very similar, but with a slight change in steps for each. Read on for all my favorite tips to keep the holiday spirit alive in your home for as long as possible!
How to Keep Live Christmas Wreaths Fresh
- Store them in a cool area until ready to use. A garage, unfinished basement or refrigerator are all viable options.
- Before hanging, submerge live wreaths in enough water to feed the cut stems overnight. This helps them absorb as much moisture as possible before using.
- Use an anti-desiccant spray to seal in the moisture.
- To maintain, spritz the back of the wreath with water so the cut stems can drink the water. This will retain it’s fragrance and extend it’s life. You can also spritz the front of live wreaths and garlands.
- If possible, keep them out of sunlight and away from heat vents. Dry, hot air will dry out your live greens more than anything else!
How to Keep Live Garlands Fresh
- Store them in a cool area until ready to use. A garage, unfinished basement or refrigerator are all viable options.
- Use an anti-desiccant spray to seal in the moisture. Don’t skip this step!
- Spritz the garland with water every 2-3 days to extend the life. I like to use this glass spray bottle.
- If possible, keep them out of sunlight and away from heat vents.
QUICK TIP: You can also purchase the anti-desiccant product as a concentrate, which can be mixed with your water prior to soaking your fresh greens. I have found this to be less messy than the spray bottle of Wilt Pruf and perhaps even more thorough, ensuring that all the greenery is covered.
How to Keep Christmas Greens Fresh
A favorite trick of mine is to simply purchase long fresh stems of holiday greenery that I can incorporate in vases and containers throughout my home.
- Store them in a cool area until ready to use. A garage, unfinished basement or refrigerator are all viable options.
- Cut the stems at a 45 degree angle with pruners and place in water that is room temperature.
- If they are going into a fresh Christmas garland or wreath, gently crush the exposed stem with a small hammer. Allow the stems to drink water for a few hours after cutting them before integrating them.
- Use an anti-desiccant spray to seal in the moisture.
- If possible, keep them out of sunlight and away from heat vents and the fireplace.
- If you have your greenery stems in a vase of water, be sure to change the water every second day. Clean, fresh water is ideal for extending the life of holiday greenery stems.
- Spritz the fresh Christmas greens with water every 2-3 days to extend the life. I like to use this glass spray bottle.
Christmas Greenery Top Tips
- Buy the freshest greens you can find.
- Soak in water overnight before hanging.
- Use an Anti-transpirant to help seal in the moisture.
- Mist your fresh greenery garlands and wreaths every 2-3 days for added moisture.
The Best Greenery to Use Indoors
Pine, fir, cedar and English holly tend to do better indoors than other greens. Furthermore, boxwood is often a great option for fresh greenery garlands and wreaths, because it dries beautifully and tends to preserve in place without dropping.
You can learn how to preserve boxwood, how to enhance a wreath from the grocery store, make a DIY Christmas Wreath and create this winter centerpiece here!
Prefer dried? You’ll love this Laurel Wreath for fall!
Thanks for joining me for these tips and tricks for keeping your holiday greens fresh longer.
If you try any of these tips and tricks, please come back and share a comment below with your results! Not only do I appreciate it, but I know readers do, too! For easy recipes and simple living ideas, subscribe to my newsletter!
Amy Smith says
Hi Julie! This is super helpful! I was wondering, when you give the Quick Tip on mixing the anti-desiccant concentrate with the water prior to soaking, what do you recommend for the ratio on that and how long do you typically let it soak in that mixture? Thanks!
Dawn says
Such great suggestions here! So to confirm, if I get the concentrate, I should soak the greenery in water with this, but then I do NOT need to spray subsequently? Thanks!
Mary says
I love how you did the garland on the stairway. Keeps the bannister open for holding on to!
Julie says
Thank you, Mary! Hope you enjoy decorating for the holidays!
Mary from Life at Bella Terra says
Julie,
Also, do you know what the blue spikey things are in the wreath? I just received a bouquet of flowers yesterday and it had those blue spikey things in it~~and I love them. Have never seen them before? Is it thistle?
Julie says
Yes, thistle! I love integrating it into arrangements. Whole Foods usually offers it and on occasion, Trader Joe’s. Enjoy!
Mary from Life at Bella Terra says
Julie,
I love this post! We always use fresh greens and don’t put them up until 2-3 weeks before Christmas-because they do dry out. When we first get them, I submerge them in our pool until ready to use. Since it’s too cold to swim, it’s a good use for all that water!!!
Sometimes I do mix artificial in with the fresh ones, just to add bulk. Never thought to use an anti-dissecant spray. Thanks for all the great suggestions!
Julie says
What a great idea!